


Amber & Fur

by AgentSilverchase



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Electrocution, Fluff, Noodle Incidents, Slice of Life, Thematic Thursday, Winter, t3event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 14:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14875772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentSilverchase/pseuds/AgentSilverchase
Summary: The air is dryFluffy winter furElectrons flyNow Nick’s a bit unsure(Thematic Thursday 50: Fears and Phobias)





	Amber & Fur

**Author's Note:**

> Read and reviewed on comicanon's [Greentext Theatre](https://soundcloud.com/comicanon/greentext-theater-8-8-2018#t=1:46:28)!

  
  


Nick woke up to the grating sound of his phone’s alarm. He covered the bright screen with a paw for a second, and it turned off and went quiet. He wiggled out of his heavy blanket and got up, the hairs of his thick winter coat frazzled and standing on end.

Ungh. Waking up in the morning. Even a good two years or so in, his nocturnal brain still couldn’t get used to it. Especially since he just got cleared to return to duty yest—

_“Ow!”_

—erday.

The door handle gave him a small shock as he reached for it.

Right. The northeastern corner of downtown got cold and dry during this time of year. Being extremely fluffy just makes it worse. This morning was off to a miserable start. He shuffled across the carpeted floor into the bathroom.

* * *

Nick extended a paw towards the toilet paper, and the dangling end lifted up a bit to meet his paw.

He knew what that meant.

Even after tearing off a piece with his left paw, the toilet paper on the holder still clung to his right paw, even though he already let go. He separated it from his right paw by pulling it off with the other.

Now it clung to his left paw. Great.

He flailed his wrist to try to fling the toilet paper off his paw. With a few vigorous shakes, it came off. All of that shaking unrolled the toilet paper by quite a length.

It drifted over to his chest and stuck there.

* * *

Nick slid onto the fuzzy, patterned fabric of a subway seat. The small-class section of the subway cars got quite crowded in the mornings, and it was rare that he managed to find a seat on the ride to work.

The speakers in the ceiling robotically announced the train’s arrival at Peak Station.

He and many of the other mammals riding the Lavender Line streamed out of the subway car and onto the platform. With some sort of chaotic hivemind, the platform neatly sorted itself into queues as they walked down the exit path. Everyone arrived at the row of exit turnstiles already at the right gates for their size.

Nick approached a turnstile. He dreaded having to touch the metal bars. He reached out—

_“Ah!”_

—and pushed through.

* * *

Nick walked into the ZPD headquarters, which thankfully had an automatic door. A downwards blast of warm air surprised him at the entrance. It ruffled his winter coat.

Right. The blowers at the top of the sliding doors.

“Nick! Nick! You’re back!”

He followed the sound to see a giddy grey rabbit briskly bouncing towards him.

She came up to him and wrapped her arms around his torso. She smothered, squished, and rubbed her face into Nick’s chest.

Dumb physical bunnies.

“I’m so glad you’ve fully recovered from that frozen shrim—”

“No, no! Don’t say that out loud!” he whispered. The fewer people who knew what happened, the better. He eye-pointed over to the cheetah behind her.

“O- oh. Well, uh, let’s get to roll call.”

Nick stopped at the door to the bullpen. He took a deep breath. He worked up the courage to open the door. The winter air and his thicker fur can’t just intimidate him like this. Slowly, carefully, he lifted a paw towards the door handle—

_“Uh, Nick?”_

—and froze, turning around to look back at the bunny. He quickly withdrew his paw and stepped backwards.

“Actually, you first.”

He slipped past the doorway as the door slowly shut behind her.

But he knew he was just delaying the inevitable.

* * *

_“Ouch!”_

Nick shocked himself on the leg of the chair he was trying to climb onto. He gripped the much-too-large seat and scrambled up, dragging his fuzzy self along its smooth, plasticky surface.

“Psst. Hey, Wilde!”

The wolf a row behind Nick quietly called out to him.

“You having static trouble, too?” the wolf whispered.

Just like Nick, his winter coat had grown in, hairs frazzled and standing on end.

“Yeah. It’s starting to get really bad.”

“You do know the trick to prevent it, right?”

Nick tilted his head. He never heard of any kind of trick. He always just sucked it up and spent all winter being slightly afraid of metal.

“So you really don’t? You just grab onto some metal while you’re still touching whatever’s causing the static. Then you can stop touching the staticky thing.”

Touching metal was exactly what Nick didn’t want to do. He looked at the leg of the table he stood at. If it works for wolves, it could probably work for foxes, too. He brought a paw over to the table leg—

_“This isn’t a prank, right? You’re not trying to zap me?”_

—and held it just a centimeter before.

“Look. I’ll show you.”

The wolf grabbed a table leg and stood up from his chair. No shock.

Nick closed his paw around the table leg. He felt his fur — standing on end because of the static electricity — suddenly deflate. All of his hairs hung limply.

He poked the bunny beside him with a digit to see if she would get zapped. She didn’t.

“Oh.”


End file.
